Angie

We have an 8 year old van which we brought over to France in February. We will use it during our next holiday in May but after that would prefer to sell it in France rather than drive it back to the UK. Is it OK to sell a UK registered vehicle in France as it is or would I need to get it re-registered before putting it up for sale? A French chap in the village has expressed an interest but he's not sure of the procedure either! Thank you

Thanks everyone for your replies and amusing stories! I don't think I explained myself clearly enough. We have a very very steep bank which despite sowing grass seed on it remains bald (the seed gets washed away or blows away). We have tried using the mats impregnated with seed but that hasn't worked either. Our "digger" chap has an attachment on his tractor which could slice rather than dig and because he is removing a lot of decent grass from another part of the garden thought we'd try that, nothing to lose I guess. Hopefully that will attach itself better to the slope and eventually grow.

"Turf" as in the green grass stuff with the mud on back! Not sure if its gazon or not? We have a lot of rather nice grass than is being taken up and we want to ask our French landscaper to slice us some with his digger to cover a very large bald patch we have - not sure he knows what we have in mind. Thank you

I've already said, 50/50

That's a ridiculous thing to say. I certainly wouldn't be expecting him to wait a year to be paid!! Its only a 3 week job in any case, probably 50/50 in terms of labour and materials. Its a lot easier for a tradesman to come to your home to demand payment of an invoice and there is the work to prove its been done. A lot more difficult to chase up a company, in a foreign country, after you have paid them. Yes, it is a second home and has been for 12 years and we have had lots of building work done on the house in that time. As I said before, no tradesman, French or otherwise, has ever asked us for money up front and we have always paid in instalments as the work has progressed, with no complaints. As one earlier post indicated, I would have little or no redress should the guy clear off without doing the job. £10k is a lot to us and has taken us a couple of years to save up so don't want to end up losing it.

We are having some work done to our house by a local French chap, cost around 10,000 euros. He lives close by and from what we gather has a good reputation in and around the area and is a fully registered tradesman. However, on his devis he requires 50% of the money "up front" (I wouldn't give him this in cash!) but although we have had numerous works done on our property over the years, we have never been asked for money before the work starts. Because of the sum involved this makes us a bit nervous. We do understand that he will need to buy quite a lot of materials to begin the work but this is his normal business and he has traded for many years so would assume he had a least a short period of credit with his suppliers. What redress would I have and who with if he decided either to string us along for months on end before starting or if, worse case scenario, he didn't start the work at all. Thank you

Are the French Social Security charges payable only on any profit made on the sale of the house and is there any taper relief after a certain period of ownership? Thank you

Thank you!

Can I buy new or used scaffolding boards easily in France and if so, where? Have looked around our local area and they are not obvious!!

Does anyone know of a landscaping/driveway enterprise locally to Quillan who could help us out? Hoping to have new gravel driveway but open to suggestions. Large size digger would be needed. Thank you

I would really like to query our high property taxes which seem to have risen a lot again this year, despite not having any improvements/changes to the property. We are very rural and do not have a lot of amenities close by. Firstly what are the chances of the Tresorie having made a mistake with their calculations (the house was new 10 years ago and the builder completed and submitted the forms) and more importantly, would they be likely to increase them further if we appealed?!!! That's what's worrying me as we absolutely could not afford to pay a penny more!!!

Thank you everyone for your more than helpful suggestions. It definitely is just surface rust so think I will still try the roller for repainting as the fridge/freezer is sited between 2 kitchen units and from what I've been told its quite easy to spray everything in sight with these cans of paint and also quite difficult to get an even finish. It really is a shame as its a relatively new appliance and is very stylish. If the rollered finish looks rubbish them I will definitely opt for the decal/stickers. My granddaughter will probably be able to help with these!

The door of our new fridge freezer has acquired a number of rust spots as a result, I think, of humidity while we were away from the house and my usage of bleach sprays to clean the kitchen (apparently these sprays should not be used on white goods). I know you can buy white appliance paint in a spray can but it will be messy if I use that in the kitchen (don't really want to have to lug the thing outside). In the UK you can buy this type of paint in a tin and apply with a roller. I understand it gives a better and more even finish. Does anyone know if this is available in France and if so, can I get it one of the Bricos? Thank you

That may have been me; we need 60 tonnes and I am emailing around different suppliers. The delivery charges range from 500 euros upwards plus TVA. Thanks for the advice re the chalky stuff. The chap at the quarry seems to want to be helpful - just hope we can understand each other!

Thanks for your prompt reply. We are currently in the UK and was hoping to have the concasse delivered while we are at the house in a couple of weeks time so wouldn't have the opportunity to go and have a look at the quarry prior to our visit. Everything takes such a age to organise re: deliveries etc. so doubt if we go and choose when we are over that it can be delivered before we come home again!! Two French chappies who were going to sort out our driveway in April/May or June - August still haven't arrived to start the job and have suggested next March (so a year all told) therefore we need a base to drive on for the winter and probably beyond as its starting to get very muddy, the current concasse surface no longer being thick enough.

We want to top up our current calcaire/concasse drive which was originally laid by the builder some years ago with a new layer of concasse. The quarry are asking us what type of concasse we need but we haven't a clue what its called or the different "varieties" are. I thought it was just crushed limestone or similar and that it would be pretty straightforward to order. Can anyone advise. I don't want to phone the quarry unprepared as my French isn't good enough to discuss anything too technical! Thank you

I understand that capital gains tax is payable on any profit made on the sale of your house in France less a reduction depending on how many years you have owned it. Can someone tell me if the 15.5% social charge is payable on the same basis, i.e. on the profit made or on the whole sale amount? Thank you

We thought that if we made a large order i.e. ordered all that we needed in one go that it would reduce the cost for delivery but the more we order the more the price for delivery goes up. No, its loose gravel, not in "Big bags" and they are just going to dump it so we are not asking them to do anything "extra". Not sure I want the hassle of transporting several tipper trucks full of gravel ourselves and really don't mind paying a reasonable delivery charge (was expecting around 150 euros) but this represents almost 50% of the cost of the gravel!! Will be contacting some other suppliers in the area to see if its the norm or whether this particular company are taking us for a ride! Thanks all.

We have just been given a quote for the supply of 60 tonnes of aggregate (gravel, hardcore etc.) from a company 10km from us. The delivery charge is 600 euros (3 lorries), the aggregates are costing about double this. Is such a high delivery charge normal? We had a whole, very large lorry of sand, cement, blocks, bricks etc. delivered from another company and they only charged 36 euros. I expect to pay something but does this seem exhorbitant to anyone else?

There was an article in the Mail on Sunday this week about owning property abroad. Under the section for France it advised that you borrow money in France rather than using UK funds or cash and explained that if you had a French mortgage on your French property then the valuation for annual taxes is reduced - can anyone confirm this? I've never heard of this.

Hi, could someone recommend a general builder in this area, thank you

Yes, agree. The only cleanish ones we've found are on the autoroutes in the service areas. Must say it really is a shame as I wouldn't take much to improve these facilities if each commune provided a mop, bucket and a vat of bleach to some keen villager wanting to earn a few euros. The only other time in Europe that I've been truly appalled by the toilet facilities was in Florence where I queued for 30 minutes, paid the equivalent of £2 to stand on a communal, metal "open air" platform and pee in the river, 20 feet below! God knows what I would have done had number twos been involved!!

We have had some really lovely holidays this past few years in some of the most beautiful villages in France. This year we took our young grandchildren with us and we had hoped by visiting such gorgeous places that the toilets might have been slightly better. Most were the usual disgusting variety but a couple were absolutely appalling. We couldn't use any of them. One was even right next to the Tourist Office! The place was heaving with tourists so surely it would be in the best interest of the village to clean them once in a while. Does anyone know why this seems to be the norm throughout France?

Thanks all for your replies - it could possibly be a Western Whip Snake as suggested by ventodue but the description of it online (albeit unproblematic to humans) sounds scary! "Though normally discreet it can be obstinate and aggressive, thrashing the ground with its tail and hissing when angered, sometimes tilting its head back and then striking and biting with force, it is this force which gives it the ability to overcome its victims but is of no serious concern to humans. It is also an agile climber weaving its way with speed through bushes and hedgerows" We seem to have acquired a number of mice recently so its hunting skills may come in useful! If we see the snake again I will upload a photo. Thanks again all you knowledgeable people!

Thanks for replying so promptly Loiseau. Don't think it was a grass snake, that was my initial thought - it had distinctive bright yellow rings on a very black skin rather than the sort of zig zag pattern of the grass snake. If I see it again I will try and pluck up the courage to take a photo!!